1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide apparatus, a guide system, and a guide method for guiding users to such service providing places as stores and, more particularly, to a guide apparatus, a guide system, and a guide method for providing a location of a store or the like, directions to a store or the like, and related information to a store or the like, for a user.
2. Related Background Art
There are conventionally known navigation systems for navigating to a location where a target object (a store or the like) under an advertisement on a magazine is located, as described in Patent Document 1. This Patent Document 1 discloses a scheme of providing an advertisement of each commercial product with a bar code. A user scans this bar code to take it into a navigation device. Then the navigation device searches for a path between a host vehicle and a target object (a store or the like) under the advertisement, based on the location of the host car and the location of the target object, and executes a navigation operation. It is described that the user can go to the target object (a store or an apartment) under the advertisement or the like. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses an advertisement to provide detailed information of a commercial product. According to this Patent Document 2, an IC retaining an identifier of a commercial product is buried in an advertisement of the commercial product, and a user reads this identifier from the IC and transmits it to a service provider. The service provider acquires detailed information of the commercial product, based on the identifier, and transmits the detailed information to the user. This permits the user to know the detailed information of the commercial product.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. JP-A-2002-181581    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. JP-A-2001-266090